April 14
We took a moment to reflect on our favourite parts of Forest School and it made our hearts warm that each Wildling is leaving this winter with memories they hold close. We were truly able to watch the seasons go from blizzard to green, what a blessing! Today each wildling started their own fire, and we made many treats on the fire, made journey sticks, played games, and connected with friends and nature.
On our last day we like to do a gift to the forest. Today we gave trees “faces” as a way to thank the forest for all the joy and memories, and just being our friend.
Previous Weeks
It was an egg-tastic day! While looking for signs of spring in nature, these littles took the challenge of taking care of their pet egg very seriously. Some were convinced it would hatch to a bird, all spent a careful amount of time making nests for them and finding a place that the egg could stay protected and rest. We sang songs, read lots of books, and they turned the 2 tilted trees into an airplane and created a game where all were invited. We went to our loch nest site for some full body movement and risky play. These coyotes are getting so great at listening to their bodies to navigate risk! What an awesome time to witness the fist signs of spring in an up close and personal way!
Prompting questions!
– What signs of spring have you noticed so far?
– What animal were you at the loch nest site?
– How did you keep your egg safe?
These Coyotes were all play today! Jumping right into creating a world of monsters and heroes, and invisibility powers… the conversations and imaginations were in full swing today! They played on the homemade seesaw and became addicted to duck duck goose and little sleeping animals! We brought along our forest friends again, the wildlings were so excited about it, and had a tea party in the woods with them. It was a magical kind of day.
Prompting questions!
– What kind of animal was your forest friend?
– What game did we play that was your favourite?
We were going full speed today with authentic play, I almost want to say old fashioned, :). We did charcoal painting, played tag, hide and seek, used tools to drill holes and hammered wood. All of which took all their attention for most of the day. We even made bows and praticed shooting targets. They focused on trying to get better at it and finding the perfect arrow stick.
On our wander down to the river we found a dead goose that had these wildlings completely captivated for a while. They did not want to leave so we layed down grasses and talked about how we should respect animals bodies even after passing, by not kicking or poking, and how their bodies decay and become part of the earth. Then one child said “we’re sorry you died birdie” and another said “hope your doing better then last time!” What thoughtful little humans. We read a book…. Twice! (they even asked for it a 3rd time!) and found a large wood plank that we brought back to camp and used as a see saw.
Prompting questions!
– What game did you play with your bow and arrows?
– What tool did you use?
Even with some chilly moments, these little wildlings did so great being resilient today in the snowy weather. We couldn’t have been more proud!
We went exploring finding forts, tracks, and hollowed logs while soaking up the beauty of the snow fall. We drank hot chocolate, laughed a-lot, and had many conversations under the train bridge while exploring and playing on its grand engineering.
Prompting questions!
– What is one of the most important things to keep warm in cold weather?
– What did we all do for the first time?
It was quite the lake that we had today at our camp site but that didn’t even faze these wildlings. Instead of a problem, they saw it as a richer environment for play! We explored, painted, skated and played with all the ice around us. They used hammers to brake up ice and hammer in nails. Many wanted a try at chopping wood for the fire. Even cheered each other on! We used our knife skills to chop up apples for roasting and worked hard to start our own fires to gain access to marshmallows for s’mores!
Prompting questions!
– What did the scarves in the story told show you?
– What piece of nature did you paint? (Sticks, fort, leaves, ice, or snow?)
Our first day was filled with much excitement, as these wildlings were given minimal “tools” to run with their imaginations!
Our COYOTES reunited with old friends and even made new friends! They learned about using their “spidey sense” to navigate risks and as a way to help them listen to their bodies. We even had REAL coyote visitors across the river that captivated our interests as we watched and listened! We learned about mama animals building dens then set off to use our imaginations, ingenuity, and problem solving skills to build dens for our own forest friends!
These Coyotes really do know how to dive into authentic, imaginative, full body play!
Prompting questions!
– Where did you build your den? Did you think about how your forest friend would stay warm?
– What visitor across the river came to say hi and bye!
